just around the corner, a fiscal cliff deadline that is personal here. >> i just can't imagine funding being cut at this point. it would be tragic. >> reporter: she is worried mandatory budget cuts would hurt food safety inspection. that mattered to her since her twins were born in 1999. >> she was in the hospital for two weeks, luke for three. >> reporter: she and her babies got list teara poisoning from meat she ate while pregnant. contaminated food sickens about 48 million people a year, 3,000 people die. so the fda and the usda's food safety and inspection service are charged with protecting the food supply. an 8.2% budget cut translates to a combined 157 million dollars. there is no word exactly what cuts would mean to inspectors staffing. >> both fda and usda are stretched pretty thin when it comes to the inspection activities in the food safety work they do. they really need an increased resources and not fewer resources. >> agencies always say they're stretched. >> reporter: dean clancy is with freedom works, an organization that promotes smaller government and he says the cuts